After dinner tricks

Puzzle

To give something light and amusing for the benefit of such as are interested in tricks or what might be termed sleight-of-hand feats, I will give a puzzle which can be used advantageously to amuse the guests after a banquet or at an evening party. In the former case eight wine glasses—four empty and four partially filled—illustrate the trick to perfection. In this, as in all exhibitions of a similar character, everything depends upon the skill and clever acting of the performer. He must have his little book down to perfection, so as to be able to do the trick forwards or backwards without the slightest hesitation, while by the aid of a ceaseless flow of conversation he impresses upon his hearers the fact of its being the most simple little trick that ever happened, which any one can do unless he be a natural born muttonlead or hopelessly befuddled. It really looks so simple, apparently working itself out correctly, no mater how or when the exhibitor commences, that almost any one will be cured into accepting an invitation to step up and test his sobriety by showing how readily he can perform the beat—and then the fun begins—for it will rattle ninety-nine out of a hundred.

To aid our young friends in describing their answers, the glasses are numbered, so that they can be referred to by numbers.

Puzzle in short

Pick up two adjacent glasses at a time and in four moves, change the positions so that each alternate glass will be empty

Solution

References

• Loyd, Sam [1914]. in Loyd, Sam, Jr.: Sam Loyd's Cyclopedia of 5000 Puzzles Tricks and Conundrums (in English). New York: Lamb Publishing company, page 41.